3 Hidden Dangers of Cross-Sales

For decades now, I’ve seen the statistics run along the same alarming, flat line…cross-sales of new accounts in banking AVERAGE…AVERAGE, just 2.2 per account! Let me spare you the complex math…

That means MANY banks are below 2.2 cross-sales per account and some are above—but not far.

Cross-sales may seem like a small issue, but the industry-wide cross-sale contagion poses a near and very present danger to you on three fronts.

Danger #1: The Obvious: You’re likely leaving big heaping piles of money laying on the table! You spend money by the bucket-load to acquire new customers, then sell them a free checking account and a loan at a rate you don’t like. Your personal bankers swell with pride as they close the deal, shake hands, and let piles of profit walk right out the front door!

Danger #2: The Long Arm of The Law: Regulators are starting to give the depth of your customer relationships a TSA style “personal inspection”…”step behind the paper curtain, please, while we check your knickers!” They’re looking for sticky relationships and the #1 measure…how many different accounts you have with each customer. If you’ve been flunking cross-sales, the examination won’t go well.

Danger #3: The Secret of Efficiency: There are three ways to grow any business and banking’s no different…1) Get more customers. 2) Sell more to the customer you’ve won. 3) Sell more often to the customers who’ve been with you. One of the three requires a MASSIVE capital investment. The others, almost zero. Increasing cross-sales is the single fastest way to increase your efficiency.

If your staff is hovering around the industry average of 2.2, you may think “that’s as good as they can get.” Please don’t underestimate what you and your staff can do.